Family History and Genealogy

Anyone who's used Pickard's Pink Pages for Warwickshire during their research will be saddened to know that Pickard Trepess has succumbed to Covid-19

Oh dear, that is bad news. I've used the Parish Register entries for all the Coventry Anglican parishes where I found my paternal grandmother baptised in St Michael's. Only sorry the All Saints baptisms stopped where they did as I would like to have found my dad and twin sister baptised there (I suppose) in 1907.

There's probably not a need to devote a whole topic purely to "regrets", but there's no reason why things like that shouldn't be discussed in more general "non-Cov" topics such as this one. Personally, I have very few regrets in life - certainly nothing serious. But one that always comes to mind when thinking on this subject, is that I didn't begin researching our family tree until a few years after my "Granddad Orland" died, in 1988. There are a few details that I'll never be able to ask now, and which would've helped us to understand the period around the time he was born and the family moved from Rugby to Coventry (1911). Records can give us some of the dates and cold facts, but you can't beat having proper family stories to share. My dad knew nothing about it, mainly because he was brought up in a very old-fashioned way, where children were seen and not heard, and he didn't have the open conversations about life that we now take for granted with our children. That in itself is material for yet another topic of conversation!

I agree entirely, Rob, and always encourage anyone who might be interested in their family history to "interrogate" older family members whilst they can. And there's a reverse angle to this, too. Researching my paternal line, I enquired of the Cemetery manager in Crewe about my great grandmother's burial. The reply told me she had been buried in a common grave, and there were a number of others therein. It transpired that there were three infant siblings of my grandfather, and although I had chatted with my father while he was alive but before I got into serious research, I'm firmly of the opinion that he didn't know of those infant burials.

For anyone interested in their Scottish ancestry, the 1921 census has been quietly launched online at the usual scotlandspeople.gov.uk.

Coventry is a cosmopolitan community. It always has been. Even the phrase "To be sent to Coventry" didn't start last week. It's often the mixing of communities that fosters real growth. Sometimes, the mixing process can be daunting if it's not managed fairly, just like our weather forecast for Thursday. Look how Coventry saw the development of the industrial revolution, but without a lot of the social issues affecting other industrial towns. Coventry had the skills of sorting issues out as problems arouse, without smashing up machinery. It's these thoughts running through my mind now that I'm begging the question, where do we come from. Cornwall has always been an odd bog, hey! Yet, very new historical evidence is suggesting that the ancestors of the skills of Cornwall, may have been the Phoenician traders. They had the skills of mining, ship building & trading. We know that they, the Phoenicians had a minister of metals who may have actually lived in Cornwall all of those thousands of years ago. The Romans adopted their style of government. Cornwall had so much of the industrial revolution initial technology, but they couldn't mass produce. In walks the Midlands skills of cast iron technology, big stuff, but it was Coventry that brought together the skills of fine tuning. Honing metals like works of art. Why? The watchmaker skills. Now look, we can't leave our Irish community out. They brought some of the finest linen skills here. Then what happens? Courtaulds, but who had the skills of ribbon making? Joseph Cash. This makes me so excited about our city. A city that has never thrown away it's L plates. Now even closer to home. I don't know of another discussion forum like ours. Why? Because you the members have the exceptional skills to contribute to it like you do. So, where do you & I come from, where do we belong, where do each one of us fit into this fabulous city Coventry, even with a few warts.

I'm mostly Celtic, so I belong somewhere cold, wet and windy. I do not do well in the heat. I'm Scottish, Cumbrian, Irish and Devonian. There's a tiny bit of Roman, hence my affinity to sandals and skirts but they ended up in Cumbria, so still cold, wet and windy. But I'm also a modern girl, so cold, wet, windy and with good internet access

My DNA says I am 71% English, 16% German, 10% Swedish and Denmark and 3% Irish. Having done my family tree I think the foreign bit must be a long way back, perhaps I came over with the Vikings ! I am willing to have a go at anyone's family tree !

My sister is the family tree buff. So much so that she's created some excellent Who Do You Think You Are style videos for the Cumbrian lot.

I cannot believe that you have not been overwhelmed with people asking you to do their family trees. That is so much work. My quick look on Ancestry.com gave me English, Irish and Welsh so nothing exotic.

Hello, Thank you for contributing on the wellbeing topic. I'm posting this here, so as not the break the theme of discussions that are hopefully on going. When I'm looking at recorded historical events, I try not to let the theme of human nature disappear or in the opposite direction interfere with established facts. Some things that I've been involved with in the past, or my past behaviour, I'm ashamed of. My mum had an expression "We don't wash linen in public". So I try to forget such in my life. I'm ashamed of some of the UK's past events, some of those our state has deliberately tried to hide. Many examples of that. I've mentioned that, because I keep that in mind when I'm looking at historical & pre-historical events. Our friends across the pond celebrate a festival on the fourth of July, that's documented in detail, yet I who celebrate Christmas day, I've no more idea than a fly what day, month or year that Christ was born. Imagine me being told that I'm related to a man that has just been given a twenty eight year prison term. Yet, the latest DNA tests on jews & arabs, put them into a common ancestor. I'm happier with DNA science, than I am with carbon fourteen dating. There are fluctuations in carbon 14 disintegration that remain unexplained, whereas DNA has not shown any deviations in reporting as far as I know. My ancestry appears to be tied up with Huguenot, protestants, from both of my birth parents, also my adopted mother, who married a Scot.

I'm not ashamed or proud of my ancestors or country. I'm not responsible for the good parts or the bad. I can only directly affect my actions and indirectly with those I meet. I do like this country, mostly. It has come a long way but in the two steps forward, one step back method. History is an excellent way to see how much worse things could be. So Philip, do you think that your ancestors were weavers? Very Coventry.

I always feel that there is always 2 sides in history. Depending which historian you read many of them give a different tale depending on which king, queen etc., they thought was in the right. I have also found that looking at some things you get a different perspective. Yes, my ancestor John Yardley was mayor but he was living in the Bastille Mill gate house which he was living in for a peppercorn rent as long as he kept it in good repair. (It's not what you know...) Also John Hales was in the right place at the right time in 1545 when Henry VIII granted him for £400 a whole page of properties including St John's hospital, all over Coventry and beyond. He is praised for his philanthropy but he must have been rubbing his hands together at every turn. In 1641 John Hales leased the Bastille Mill etc. to Robert Yardley, when he died in 1659 he willed it to his son John. Yes, Helen, Philip, if you think you are a Huguenot perhaps we are related. I have Hodiernes in my tree who are almost certainly Huguenot weavers.

My one and only Granddaughter sorted our family tree out 5 years ago. A rather smart leather volume was presented to us dating back to the 18 hundreds. The families were larger then than now and none of them were 'well to do' however, we did come across a chimney sweep which came as a bit of a shock. Originated in Bury. As the saying goes, a job is a job no matter what your profession is.

Hello Well Helen & Anne, it's a real possibility. My closest immediate ancestor was my Uncle Milton. (Brown), who married a Huguenot, a weaver from Wootton St, Bedworth. Here he is at the Gaumont. One characteristic that I have in common with my Uncle pictured there is that we were both short. I've never played a five manual instrument, I had a go on a four manual which was so uncomfortable. So three was my limit. The Gaumont cinema organ is three, now in Bilston Town hall. A perfect maximum size for me.